Look at the line, 'Don't make no difference what nobody says...'. The logic often used to argue against double negatives is that they cancel each other out, as they do in maths. So, with three negatives in this line (thereby rendering it a negative again), does that make it grammatically correct?

(Shame he goes on to spoil it with a bog-standard double in the next line.)

I expect you'll have guessed that my tongue is firmly planted in my cheek as I do my mathematically-convoluted grammar here. I've never really understood the problem with double negatives. Nobody ever thought Jagger was 'satisfied' when he sang, 'I can't get no satisfaction...' Ditto Diana Ross ('Ain't no mountain high enough'), McFadden and Whitehead ('Ain't no stopping us now'). I always found it interesting that it seemed quite natural to use double negatives, as if they doubled the effect, as opposed to cancelling it out. ('I ain't dun nuffink,' was a regular complaint in my primary school.) It's always seemed to me that there's a major problem with a linguistic rule which is broken so frequently, and with so few consequences (except for the loss of a mark in a SPaG test).

And then I moved to Spain... and was delighted to discover that I'd been right all along. Here, it's perfectly grammatical to double negatives, and they do exactly what we all knew intuitively. They double the effect. So, No tengo means 'I don't have', while No tengo nada means 'I don't have nuffink!'

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

As a child in the 1970s, cup semi-final day was always a favourite for me. Villa Park, Old Trafford, Hillsborough, they all held a certain magic when the draw was made and the 'neutral ground' was chosen to play host. It was always a TV occasion, I never had an option to actually attend. And while the 'sudden-death' nature of the match was exciting, a replay (live on a Wednesday night) was always an extra treat. 'Why don't they make them home and away ties?' my friends and I often lamented.

Cup semi-finals are two-legged affairs here in Spain. Great idea, I thought.

Valencia against Barça again this year. And this time up, the second leg at Mestalla! What could be more exciting? Could I possibly get another ticket? Well, yes...

Here's the map of Mestalla an hour before kick-off. Thousands of seats available. I paid 60 euros for my ticket last time. Here's the 30 euro section for tonight. Green spots are 'available'.

So what's going on? This is a cup semi-final! Well, what's going on is a mass boycott by Valencia's fans. The notoriously noisy 'Curva Nord' have promised to make their voices heard tonight, but from outside the ground. They've asked other ticket-holders to stay away. The club has been accused of 'obliging' all the canteranos (youth players) to attend, and of giving away tickets to local schools, in an attempt to hide the boycott.

The Curva Nord on cup semi-final night.

The Curva Nord in happier times, against Athletico Madrid, October 2014.

The reason for all of this? There are two. Firstly, Valencia's 'new' manager is the untried Gary Neville, ex-Man United, ex-Sky-Sports. 'His' Valencia has failed to win any of their first 12 la Liga matches with him in charge. The team has fallen to within 4 points of the 'drop-zone'.

The second reason is, in effect, a last straw, namelythe first leg result:

Barcelona-7

Valencia-0

So, with the match 'decided', and Barça set to show up with a second (or even third) eleven, even I ended up watching on the box. The result, in front of an estimated 10,000 fans inside Mestalla (capacity 55,000) was an unexciting 1-1.If only Spain played their cup semi-finals over one leg at a neutral ground...

If you like the blog why not read the eBook? Zen Kyu Maestro, An English Teacher's Spanish Adventure available from Amazon. For a free sample chapter, click HERE.

Subscribe To Zen Kyu Maestro

Blog Directory

Total Pageviews

Follow by Email

About Me

Author of 'Zen Kyu Maestro: An English Teacher's Spanish Adventure', the story of my first year teaching Spanish juniors in English. Published as an eBook by MONDAY BOOKS, available on Amazon: http://goo.gl/JGTsZ.
Why not drop by my Facebook page, Jeremy Jose Dean, and join the discussion. You can also visit the Zen Kyu Maestro Facebook page for info on the cover design process, the cover photo selection and previews of work in preparation for ZK2. I'm also on Twitter if you want to tweet @JeremyJoseDean.
Jeremy Dean is a pseudonym.